Exploring And Promoting Creative Archives

Monthly Archives: May 2016

Below is our volunteer Lorna’s description relating to her work creating research guides. You can access Lorna’s research guide here

Last week, I visited the Farnham archives to create a research guide on the topic of working class women as part of my volunteering. This topic was of particular interest to me due to my own involvement in feminism, both academically and through volunteering at the Feminist Library.

For this task, I was looking through the Working Press archives which features correspondence, newsletters and mailing lists concerning working class women writers between 1986 and 1996 created or collected by Stefan Szczelkun.

Going through the archive, I noticed recurring themes, individuals and institutions which will enable those using the guide to find further information surrounding the topic without having to read the entire archive. By referencing specific events, individuals and inst­­­itutions within the documents, users will be able to easily research the area in more depth by using key terms instead of general terms such as feminism, class and protest.

For researchers, being able to see these pieces together in the context of an archive, gives an added value to the material, in terms of the information they can gain from them. In this way it is easier to see changes within a time period as well as make links between individuals and institutions.

When choosing what items should be mentioned within the guide, I tried to look for material that summed up both the working class and female element of the research guide. This was mainly selecting writing that was either about women or from the view point of a woman.­­

Secondly I chose items that had a particular resonance with myself, as someone who had both an interest and knowledge of the topic. For example, I included items that referenced Greenham Common as I have met individuals who were at the camp.

From writing the guide, I was able to reacquaint myself with topics that interest me. Also I was able to see the archives from both the view of a volunteer as well a researcher, gaining an insight into how to make the archives more accessible and useful to those using them for research.

The Building a Better World Creative Residency, has artist in residence Stefan Szczelkun at the fore, creator of the Working Press Archive. The residency is to explore the Working Press archive, books by and about working class artists, 1986-1996, and respond to the collection artistically. The Working Press, which contains correspondence, conference material, publicity, the published book collection (some annotated) and pamphlets and zines collected by Stefan, looks at difficulties of marginalized groups being published, funding difficulties, and intersectionalities between class, gender, race, nationality and disability. The archive also questions what class actually is-what makes someone working class?

Archive Project : Mail Art asking for an image from childhood to subject

s to gain access to their stories and build an exhibiton.

Poor Dear [leaflet relating to disability], a leaflet in the working press archive (WPA) was the trigger for my idea. Which developed through looking at reports about the͞

Life Beyond The Label exhibition (Colchester castle 2007-8) [looking at disability representation] into my exhibition of how we choose to represent our own identity by looking at childhood memories and upbringing, provided by people in response to a mail art request to a shortquestionnaire. This collection that I have gathered results into a display of prints with text as well as the combination of a book including documents and information gathered and collected from the subjects. The WPA is a truly amazing collection and has really inspired me with my own work. The extent and broad paths that things can be gathered from is mesmerising and it truly has confirmed the path I want to follow as my career [Archivist].

Susan Merrick, MA Fine Art. Using the annotated Conspiracy of Good Taste book, and inspired by the themes of identity, language and power

During this residency I am responding to the Working Press archive as a whole. The substance of the archive is for me as important as the premise for it. I am considering some of the themes and issues raised by the artists who worked with and were represented by the Press and how we see these themes and issues today over twenty years later.

The main themes I am considering are Identity, Language and Power and the mediums I am choosing to use are photography and location specific performances.

Initially I am using a Facebook blog and Instagram to disseminate my photographs and my thoughts on the themes. I have created a gif for The Conspiracy of Good Taste and I am sending out two pieces of mail art as a live exhibition and will also show the pieces that I receive in return as part of the exhibition. I will also be using one of the photographs from my blog to create a life size cut out of myself as an installation piece reflecting the culmination of my residency. This piece will be used for the exhibition but I would also like to place it in some significant locations (probably in London) and photograph these. This will be a continuing work for me.

Reactivating the Working Press archives has in turn reactivated my own sense of identity and my acknowledgment of being a working class woman artist. There is much to discuss on the issue of class; relevance, fluidity, identification or stigma, limitations and freedom. But as any artist (in my opinion) needs to consider their own perceptions and where these come from, owning your own identity is a huge part of this. Twenty years on the Working Press has a great deal to offer artistically, academically and historically and the considerations of the writers in this Press need to be disseminated much further, especially in relation to Building a Better World.

My project is based on working with a ‘Random Access Memory Raids’ pamphlet found in Working Press archive. This is an agitational left wing booklet made by Conscious Collective in early 90s. My work would contain quotes and phrases from this pamphlet, as I find most of the messages still relevant nowadays. Text will be used as a part of collage, that will also include random screenshots made on my phone. Final images will be modified in Photoshop and replicate visual content that can be seen on any mobile phone screen. Images will be disturbed by certain phrases from the booklet, replacing original meaning with another. Final stream of images will be displayed as a digital slideshow and represent the on going search for truth. Also work will include QR code taking viewers to a link where images can be seen and possibly edited

Catinca Malaimare, Fine Art, inspired by Class, Myths and Culture book (published by Working Press)

In the work produced in response to the Working Press Archive I am referencing the illusion of glamour and the self-scrutiny it attracts as presented in 52 Glamour Cards (Class, Myths and Culture). Glamour is a form of visual persuasion, it is cultural and thus,

deceptive. Glamour, as visual activity, forces the eye into a compliant gaze constructed by repetition and the absence of it leaves the eye without purpose, forced into chaotic repetition.

Your visual/conceptual strategy: Combining some bits of the text from the book ‘Postcards from Poland’ with images of Palestine and the current situation of occupation. Uncommented comparison between the two, how the texts strangely fits with the situation in Palestine (images). -> Text and Image

Display and dissemination strategy: Haven’t really decided on a way of presentation, I still have to experiment with different presentation types. I might print the images as postcards and put bits of the text on the back. I would also find it interesting to hear someone reading the text.

Your impressions, opinion and reaction to the Working Press Archive: I have never worked with an archive before, so it was very interesting for me to look through all the documents and to get access to a lot of different stories and opinions. It is a very sensitive and considered way of working. Making something new with something that is already there and to respond to it. Combining different opinions and perspectives. Especially the book ‘Postcards from Poland’ which I am referring to in my project, really inspired me in many ways. It reminded me of my own family history and made me also think of the current situation in Palestine. It will be interesting to see how everyone activated or responded to the Working Press Archive. And the fact that it will grow even more through this workshop is amazing.

Yomi, Illustration

Posters from the anticopyright Flyposter book from the archives, which I used as a visual resource,inspires the image on the t-shirts.

When I was working on Creative Writing for my illustration I was looking a

t different film genres with the visual scenery from Classic film from the 1950s.

People may assume the solder is a man but I have used a silhouette, which could be

any gender or nationality.The solitary word “story” invites the viewer to decide what the image actually means.

Annie and Elodie, Photography

Inspired from records from the Class, Culture and Identity conference, related to middle class, working class mothers, they produced a performance piece, related to multiple identities

The Building a Better World Creative Residency, has artist in residence Stefan Szczelkun at the fore, creator of the Working Press Archive. The residency is to explore the Working Press archive, books by and about working class artists, 1986-1996, and respond to the collection artistically. The Working Press, which contains correspondence, conference material, publicity, the published book collection (some annotated) and pamphlets and zines collected by Stefan, looks at difficulties of marginalized groups being published, funding difficulties, and intersectionalities between class, gender, race, nationality and disability. The archive also questions what class actually is-what makes someone working class?

The last three days of the residency involved further research, in terms of which part of the archive students were responding to. It also involved, where relevant, the digitisation of the item. Students were introduced to the UCA Digitisation Unit, and scanning equipment for archival material.

The Building a Better World Creative Residency, has artist in residence Stefan Szczelkun at the fore, creator of the Working Press Archive. The residency is to explore the Working Press archive, books by and about working class artists, 1986-1996, and respond to the collection artistically. The Working Press, which contains correspondence, conference material, publicity, the published book collection (some annotated) and pamphlets and zines collected by Stefan, looks at difficulties of marginalized groups being published, funding difficulties, and intersectionalities between class, gender, race, nationality and disability. The archive also questions what class actually is-what makes someone working class?

The two days involved artists Stefan, and David Moore. It included finding about the participants, and any previous experience with archives they may have had. It included introducing participants to the Working Press, including showcasing the Working Press publications, which is on the library catalogue, which also included an annotated book, The Conspiracy of Good Taste. The unpublished material, such as letters, conference material, posters, can be accessed on the archive catalogue

Items that I drew to participants attention included records from the Culture, Class and Identity conference, and correspondence, and mail art, from the collection. I also highlighted a selection of zines and pamphlets donated by Stefan collected at the same time as the Working Press.

Ideas included developing projects based on the idea of class and identity, and what being working class actually means – is it a question of financial means? Questions also included what does being a working class artist mean? Other ideas included directly adapting posters relating to a political message, and also developing the idea of mail art. One student, Susan Merrick, from Fine Art has started a blog, looking at charity shopping and class

The Creative Residency or Artist in Residency, is an initiative s internally funded by the University for the Creative Arts, and initiated by bookRoom, With Emmanuelle Waeckerle and Rebekah Taylor . Building a Better World, involves artist Stefan Szczelkun,as the artist in residence, and the Working Press archive, books by and about working class artists, 1986-1996. Stefan, who is the co-founder of the working press, leads workshops along with lecturers ( Emmanuelle Waeckerle , David Moore, Ellen Nolan), and the archivists (Rebekah Taylor, Carryl Church). Students interact with the Working Press archive, books by and about working class artists, discuss themes within the collections, and with tutorials from lecturers, produce artwork in inspiration to the collection. Work produced will be added to the archive, and made available on UCA’s Image Bank.

The first part of the Creative Residency was a study day, involving artists that have worked with archives, including Peter Kennard. Discussed by our Assistant Archivist, Carryl Church… (you can also find a review on bookRoom’s website)

Last week I had the pleasure of filming the Creative Residency day “Building a Better World” and listening to some very inspiring talks from artists and archivists in relation to how archive material can inspire creativity.

Peter Kennard: Peter Kennard is a photomontage artist and Senior Research Reader in Photography, Art and the Public Domain at the Royal College of Art. He began his career as a painter but realised the medium of photomontage could be more effective in getting his art out into the world at street level. His most famous photo montage is Haywain with Cruise Missiles created in 1980 in response to the rising tensions around the cold war. He has created work for organisations such as Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and Amnesty International. His talk gave us a fascinating insight into his work as a means of political protest culminating in his current exhibition at the Imperial War Museum Peter Kennard: Unofficial War Artist.

Stefan Szczelkun: Stefan works on the MA in Visual Culture at the University of Westminster. Stefan’s interest in publishing led him to set up “Working Press, books by and about working class artists” a fascinating collection of books, pamphlets and zines published between 1986 and 1996 which we hold in the UCA archives. Stefan talked about his work both with the Working Press and his interest in multimedia, digital video and cinema. He also talked about a collaborative project called AgitDisco, a multimedia project which he devised and co-ordinated made up of CDs of playlists of protest music chosen by friends and associates. A book of the playlists was published in 2011. Stefan is the Artist in Residence for this creative residency and it is material from the Working Press Archive which will be used to inspire students to produce their own creative response.

Rebekah Taylor: Our very own Archivist and Special Collections Officer took us through the definitions of an archive, gave us an insight and examples into the Working Press Archive and talked about how archives can play a central role in the inspiration and creation of artists work.

David Moore: The Archive and autonomy: David Moore is a London based photographer and lecturer at UCA. His talk focused on his book published in 2013 “Pictures from the Real World” which was in relation to the work he produced for his degree show 25 years earlier. This approach to that archive has led on to other work. His interest is in an approach to the archive and how it can be effective in a variety of institutional ways and understood within a political context. An archive of work being resurrected and how the forces of politics and technology can alter ones reading of the original work. A reinterpreting of the archive.

Ellen Nolan: Ellen is Lecturer in Photography at UCA. She talked about her experiences working with her Great Aunt Nita’s archive. Nita was signed to Paramount Pictures in 1933. Her archive brings together two interesting perspectives, photographs shot by her mother from early childhood through adulthood and film and publicity material from Paramount Pictures. The archive also includes personal correspondence and diaries. Ellen talked through material from the collection.

Overall a fascinating insight into different perspectives of how archives can inspire and influence new works of art.

Today, sees the start of a Library display of fanzines created by first year students on the Fashion, Promotion and Imaging Degree course.

As part of their introductory unit to Visual Communication, students were asked to produce a fanzine responding to fashion-related themes and sub-cultures. This year publications addressed subjects as diverse as brutalism, skinheads, afrobeat and feminism. The work was produced using techniques such as: screen-printing, mono-printing, letterpress, collage and book-binding. Each ‘zine was restricted to 3 colours with a length of twenty pages.

Working in a Creative Arts university, with creative arts archives, with courses that include Media and Communications, and Creative Writing, looking at integrating archives with games, and interactive storytelling, seems a perfect fit. I am also really interested in looking at ways to bring to life visually our more text based material, which includes our exciting records of the Guildford School of Art protest in 1968, involving a student sit in. This includes records such as student statements, governors statements, and posters. This provides a fascinating insight into student protest, activity, but also the nature of art education itself – theoretical/vocational? However, purely text based material can sometimes be off-putting to visual thinkers – I wanted to find a way to bring our collections to life, and look at how you can be inspired to create creative writing.

There are various examples of how heritage and games combine, including examples from this Heritage Jam, using different software. I was particularly interested in looking at TWINE, an open source storytelling software, which can run on windows as well as linux. TWINE allows you to create interactive non linear stories, and is intuitive to use, providing instructions. To make the TWINE live you can upload the HTML file to a free TWINE hosting site. TWINE games mean the player (you) takes on a personna, and chooses various options

I was asked to host volunteers for Creative Writing and Media Communications, who had created TWINE games before. Hayden Lee, decided to create an interactive story from the Guildford School of Art sit in protest. Inspired by the newspaper clippings, student posters urging people to boycott Guildford School of Art, and descriptions of students, he decided to create a TWINE game, where you take on the personna of an interviewer/journalist from a newspaper and see how you can get your story…